Winifred Spooner
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Winifred Evelyn Spooner | |
---|---|
Born | Woolwich, Kent, England | 11 September 1900
Died | 13 January 1933 | (aged 32)
Occupation | Aviator |
Winifred Evelyn Spooner (11 September 1900 – 13 January 1933)[1] was an English aviator of the 1920s and 1930s, and the winner of the Harmon Trophy as the world's outstanding female aviator of 1929. She died aged 32 from pneumonia.
Early life and education
Winifred Spooner was born in
After she received
Winifred's brothers, Tony and Frank, had leased farmland and stables near Folly Court in
There was a field on the farm big enough upon which to land a light aircraft, so Winifred built a wooden hangar and moved her Moth from Stag Lane. During this period Winifred, Hugh and Frank lived at 4 South Drive in Wokingham. Winifred continued her air-taxi service, charging £4 an hour or one shilling a mile, covering Britain and France, and gave flying lessons. She also bought a car; Wokingham locals recall her being one of the first woman drivers in the area. Some time later she moved to Scott's Farm near Bearwood, now part of Woosehill.
Achievements
In July 1928 she took the 3rd place in the seventh
In 1929 she finished fifth in the King's Cup Race, and won the Harmon Trophy as the world's outstanding female aviator. She also took 10th place in the International Tourist Plane Contests Challenge.
In 1930 she was a member of the British team at the International Tourist Plane Contest
On 5 December 1930, accompanied by Captain Edwards, she set out to prove that South Africa could be reached within 5 days by flying day and night. After 16 hours, while Captain Edwards was flying the aircraft and Winifred was asleep, the plane crashed into the sea off the coast of Belmonte Calabro in complete darkness. The plane losing height was attributed to a mchanical failure. As Captain Edwards was quite badly injured, Winifred left him sitting on the wooden fuselage and swam ashore "6 strokes at a time"; the ditching was about two miles offshore. She then alerted local fishermen who set out to rescue Captain Edwards and the plane.[10][11][12]
She participated in three out of four
In 1931, she took the fifth place in the King's Cup Race and became the first British woman to earn her living as a private owner's personal pilot, flying the air racer and
She is reported to have crashed an aircraft in
Death
In January 1933, Spooner, who was never ill, caught a cold while at
Her remains were taken to St. Swithin's Church at
Commemoration
A bronze bust of Spooner, created by Donald Gilbert, was unveiled on 30 May 1934 by Lindsay Everard MP at the headquarters of the Women's Automobile and Sports Association, presented by an anonymous donor.[15]
Sherborne Memorial Scholarship
In 1936, Spooner's close friend, Dugald Macpherson, founded a memorial scholarship to her memory at Sherborne School for Girls.[16]
References
- ^ Early Aviators. From The Great Encyclopedia of Aeronautics of Luigi Mancini, Milan, 1934, Courtesy of Giovanni Giorgetti, 112-10-05
- ^ English Census 1901, 10 Wellington Crescent, Ramsgate
- ^ England & Wales Civil Registration Birth Index, 1837-1915
- ^ Great Britain, Royal Aero Club Aviators' Certificates, 1910-1950
- ^ The Royal Aero Club of the United Kingdom – official notices to members in Flight, 29 September 1927, p. 689
- ^ Popular Flying Magazine Vol 4 No 2 May 1934 page 63 http://www.popularflying.com/Covers/38/
- ^ Flight, 26 July 1928, p.636
- ^ ISBN 83-206-0637-3
- ^ Circuit of Italy in Flight, 5 September 1930, p.991
- ^ Winifred Spooner – London to Cape Town at Earlyaviators.com
- ^ BBC Radio 4 – Clare Walker Women with Altitude, A History of Early Pioneer Women Aviators
- ^ Women with Wings: Female Flyers in Fact and Fiction by Mary Cadogan
- ^ BBC Radio 4 – Making History.
- ^ "Death of Famous Airwoman". The Glasgow Herald. 14 January 1933. p. 11. Retrieved 19 February 2022.
- ^ "The Woman Engineer Vol 3". www2.theiet.org. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
- ^ "Charity Details". beta.charitycommission.gov.uk. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
Further reading
- Miss Winifred Spooner, Aviatrix, Jim Bell, 2009.[1]
External links
- ^ "Winifred Spooner's Grave". The Early Birds of Aviation. Retrieved 8 December 2017.